the energiewende blog

Geothermal energy in Mexico has huge natural potential to generate electricity, and since 2013 a number of policy changes are influencing new contracts. Lillian Sol Cueva investigates the upsides and drawbacks of geothermal for Mexico.

Oxford County, Ontario, has just opened a wind farm as part of a project to go 100% renewables for electricity and heat. Craig Morris visited the project, which could become a role model for the entire country.

Oxford County is set to become Canada’s first 100% renewable energy community. (Photo: Craig Morris)

Temperatures are falling in Europe, and warm thoughts are doing little to help – let alone the European Commission’s proposed legislation. After a long gestation period, the “winter package,” also known as the “jumbo package” and the “tsunami of legislation” has now been unleashed in the framework of the Energy Union. The package of proposed legislation with the promising title Clean Energy for All Europeans stretches to more than one thousand pages. But does the package deliver on its promises?

The EU’s winter package: can it be sensible, coherent, and ambitious? (Public Domain)

Tine Langkamp describes the German wing of the international divestment movement: which states plan to divest and what their approach to divestment looks like. It also shows where the gaps are and what still needs to be done to achieve success.

Mark Stevenson introduces a progressive movement everyone can sign up to: the energy democracy. It won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen by itself: we will need to fight for it. But it can be done, as international examples show.

The city of Güssing, Austria has transitioned to renewables and seen huge economic benefits (Photo by Bwag, edited, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT)

Donald Trump will be the next US president. For too long, climate campaigners focused on policies and technical fixes. It’s time to start listening to the people affected again, rather than talking past them. A view from Germany by Craig Morris.

Miners in West Virginia’s Coal Town (1974) ; it’s time to talk to the people affected by climate campaigns (Public Domain)

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have been known for negating most policies which in the short run require some level of altruism and sense of responsibility, from climate change to immigration issues. When Germany embarked upon its revolutionary and transformative energy policy which became known as Energiewende, CEE political leaders were quick to condemn and ridicule the policy. Jan Ondrich explains.

CEE countries are focused on increasing their coal projects, but renewables make more economic sense (photo by Bert Kaufmann, edited, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Nuclear reactors running on thorium are widely held to be inherently safer than the awful pressurized-water reactors we have today. So why don’t we have thorium reactors? A new TV documentary also available online answers the question quite well. Craig Morris sums up the evidence.

Solar power in India will be cheaper than imported coal by 2020, but replacing the subcontinent’s fossil fuels with renewable energy is an enormous task. Henner Weithöner explains the potential of a solar takeover.